Religion and spirituality. Linkages to physical health

Evidence is presented that bears on 9 hypotheses about the link between religion or spirituality and mortality, morbidity, disability, or recovery from illness. In healthy participants, there is a strong, consistent, prospective, and often graded reduction in risk of mortality in church/service attenders. This reduction is approximately 25% after adjustment for confounders. Religion or spirituality protects against cardiovascular disease, largely mediated by the healthy lifestyle it encourages. Evidence fails to support a link between depth of religiousness and physical health. In patients, there are consistent failures to support the hypotheses that religion or spirituality slows the progression of cancer or improves recovery from acute illness but some evidence that religion or spirituality impedes recovery from acute illness. The authors conclude that church/service attendance protects healthy people against death. More methodologically sound studies are needed.     

Impact of Summer Trip to Israel on the Self-Esteem of Jewish Adolescents

Psychological research has identified many positive effects of adolescents being aware of their religious and cultural backgrounds (Fiese, 1992). Religious rituals and community support facilitate developmental transitions. They also instill a stronger sense of identity. Mainstream North American society's emphasis on autonomy and individuality has meant that people are less reliant on religious and cultural rituals as a source of community strength. The lack of defined traditions and spiritual goals has left many of today's American adolescents confused. Jewish American adolescents, in particular, may not achieve a full sense of their religious and cultural background due to the preponderance of Christian symbols and ideology as well as to a de-emphasis of religion due to America's scientific/secular world view. A trip to Israel, the Jewish homeland, gives Jewish adolescents the chance to meet other Jewish people and to spend time in an environment which promotes Jewish ideology, history, and culture. Although past research on Jewish adolescents has found that a trip to Israel enhances a sense of Jewish identity, personality, and leadership skills (Kafka, London, Bandler, & Frank, 1990), no recorded empirical research has looked at possible changes in self-esteem. The goal of this research project was to determine if learning about and experiencing Israeli religious practices and culture foster greater Jewish self-esteem, Jewish identity, and/or self-concept for Jewish adolescents. The compiled data reveal that Jewish identity and Jewish self-esteem have a direct and positive bearing on each other. Jewish adolescents with a strong sense of Jewish identity are more likely to develop a higher level of Jewish self-esteem. Likewise, enhanced Jewish self-esteem is connected to a greater sense of Jewish identity. Although scores on the Jewish Identity and Jewish Self-Esteem Scales did not significantly correlate with self-concept scores on the Piers-Harris Children’ Self Concept Scale (1984), and the Piers-Harris scores did not significantly change over time, these results may be due to the above average pre-test self-concept scores of the participants. Adolescents from both the Camp and Israel groups scored in the above average range on the Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale prior to and following the summer excursion. Directed at parents, scholars, and communities, this study calls attention to the importance of religiosity and culture to adolescent development. This research project also confirms this study's hypothesis that sending all Jewish adolescents to Israel between Middle and Late Adolescence lessens developmental ambiguity and strengthens self-esteem. By gaining an understanding of roots, identity, and self-esteem, adolescents and adults may become more accepting of themselves, thus enhancing their ability to be open and accepting of others—much needed qualities.     

Gender homophily in preferences for physicians

Gender homophily in physician preference (desire for a physician of the same sex) and more general homophily preferences (race, religion, and gender) were investigated among a population of college undergraduate and health professional students for a variety of health problems. Findings indicated that gender homophily preference was stronger for men than for women. However, the preferences may not reflect antifemale physician prejudice, particularly self-prejudice of women clients. Male preferred their doctors to be men significantly more than did females, regardless of the health problem. More serious health problems requiring greater physician skill (cancer, heart disease) did not produce significantly greater preference for males than problems requiring a lesser amount of skill. It appeared that health problems requiring a greater degree of physical intimacy (e.g., complete physical exam, gynecological or prostate problem) or psychological intimacy (e.g., emotional problem) produced greater homophily preference. Whether or not the student had had experience in clinical settings as a preprofessional or professional student did not have an impact on homophily preferences. Implications for the future delivery of health care, especially increased numbers of women in medicine, are discussed.This article is a revised version of a paper presented at the 29th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, Boston, August 1979. The authors appreciate the suggestions of John Doby and Linda Molm, and the assistance in obtaining subjects of Jean Li Rogers and Kirk Elifson.     

Effectiveness of Acceptance–Commitment Therapy on Craving Beliefs in Patients on Methadone Maintenance Therapy: A Pilot Study

The present study is designed to evaluate the efficacy of acceptance–commitment therapy (ACT) on craving beliefs in opioid dependent patients on methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). Twenty-eight opioid dependent participants, aged 18–50 years, who were on MMT based on Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education published protocol, were evaluated in Mashhad during 2011–2012. The treatment group comprised fourteen participants, who received eight sessions of individual ACT alongside MMT while fourteen participants of the control group received just MMT. The effectiveness of the intervention was assessed by the craving beliefs questionnaire (CBQ), the action and acceptance questionnaire (AAQ-I) and the mean dosage of methadone the participants consumed in the last 3 days. Assessment was performed three times; the first was before the initiation of ACT (as pretest), the second was 2 weeks after ACT was terminated (as posttest), and the third one was 12 weeks after the termination of ACT (as follow-up). The extracted data were analyzed by two way ANOVA and ANCOVA using SPSS-20. While there was no significant difference in the mean methadone dosage between the treatment and the control group at pretest (p = 0.067), patients in the treatment group had a significantly lower methadone dosage at posttest (p < 0.001) and follow-up (p < 0.001) compared to the control group. There was a significant reduction in the CBQ scores between treatment and control groups at posttest (p = 0.047) and follow-up (p = 0.014). There was also a significant difference in AAQ-I score between treatment and control at posttest (p < 0.001) and follow-up (p < 0.001). It seems that short-term individual ACT is associated with a significant decline in craving beliefs in substance-dependent patients, which lasts for at least 12 weeks after the termination of ACT.     

Speech and language functions that require a functioning Broca's area

A number of previous studies have indicated that Broca's area has an important role in understanding and producing syntactically complex sentences and other language functions. If Broca's area is critical for these functions, then either infarction of Broca's area or temporary hypoperfusion within this region should cause impairment of these functions, at least while the neural tissue is dysfunctional. The opportunity to identify the language functions that depend on Broca's area in a particular individual was provided by a patient with hyperacute stroke who showed selective hypoperfusion, with minimal infarct, in Broca's area, and acutely impaired production of grammatical sentences, comprehension of semantically reversible (but not non-reversible) sentences, spelling, and motor planning of speech articulation. When blood flow was restored to Broca's area, as demonstrated by repeat perfusion weighted imaging, he showed immediate recovery of these language functions. The identification of language functions that were impaired when Broca's area was dysfunctional (due to low blood flow) and recovered when Broca's area was functional again, provides evidence for the critical role of Broca's area in these language functions, at least in this individual.     

Perceptual asymmetries are preserved in short-term memory tasks

Visual performance is heterogeneous at isoeccentric locations; it is better on the horizontal than on the vertical meridian and worse at the upper than at the lower region of the vertical meridian (Carrasco, Talgar, & Cameron, 2001; Talgar & Carrasco, 2002). It is unknown whether these performance inhomogeneities are also present in spatial frequency tasks and whether asymmetries present during encoding of visual information also emerge in visual short-term memory (VSTM) tasks. Here, we investigated the similarity of the perceptual and VSTM tasks in spatial frequency discrimination (Experiments 1 and 2) and perceived spatial frequency (Experiments 3 and 4). We found that (1) performance in both simultaneous (perceptual) and delayed (VSTM) spatial frequency discrimination tasks varies as a function of location; it is better along the horizontal than along the vertical meridian; and (2) perceived spatial frequency in both tasks is higher along the horizontal than along the vertical meridian. These results suggest that perceived spatial frequency may mediate performance differences in VSTM tasks across the visual field, implying that the quality with which we encode information affects VSTM.     

The Impact of Higher Education on Egalitarian Attitudes and Values: Contextual and Cultural Determinants

In the present paper, we revisit the question of the impact of higher education on students' egalitarian attitudes and values. Research in this domain indicates that students tend to become more egalitarian and tolerant with higher education, but there are also differences depending on academic disciplines. Two main hypotheses aiming to explain why students' egalitarian attitudes differ as a function of academic disciplines are discussed: self-selection and socialization. Previous research yielding results in support of each of these hypotheses is reviewed. After pointing to some inconsistencies in the results, we consider recent research suggesting that cultural norms, namely, individualism and collectivism, may moderate the impact of higher education on attitudes. Individual factors, such as self-selection, seem to play a more prominent role than collective factors, such as socialization, in individualist cultures (e.g. North America, Australia), where most research has been conducted. In contrast, socialization appears to have a stronger impact than individual factors in collectivist cultures (e.g. Eastern Europe, Africa).     

Epidemiological considerations in transgender health: A systematic review with focus on higher quality data

Abstract

Background: High quality data pertaining to the size of the transgender and gender diverse (TGD) population are scant, however, several recently published studies may provide more reliable contemporary estimates.

Aims: To summarize the estimated number and proportion of TGD individuals overall and across age groups, based on most accurate data.

Methods: This systematic review focused on recent studies (published from 2009 through 2019) that utilized sound methodology in assessing the proportion of TGD people in the general population. Publications were included if they used clear definitions of TGD status, and calculated proportions based on a well-defined sampling frame. Nineteen eligible publications represented two broad categories of studies: those that used data from large health care systems; and those that identified TGD individuals from population surveys.

Results: Among health system-based studies, TGD persons were identified using relevant diagnostic codes or clinical notes. The proportions of individuals with a TGD-relevant diagnosis or other recorded evidence ranged between 17 and 33 per 100,000 enrollees. In population surveys TGD status was ascertained based on self-report with either narrow or broad definitions. The survey-based estimates were orders of magnitude higher and consistent across studies using similar definitions. When the surveys specifically inquired about ‘transgender’ identity, the estimates ranged from 0.3% to 0.5% among adults, and from 1.2% to 2.7% among children and adolescents. When the definition was expanded to include broader manifestations of ‘gender diversity’, the corresponding proportions increased to 0.5-4.5% among adults and 2.5-8.4% among children and adolescents. Upward temporal trends in the proportion of TGD people were consistently observed.

Conclusions: Current data indicate that people who self-identify as TGD represent a sizable and increasing proportion of the general population. This proportion may differ, depending on inclusion criteria, age, and geographic location, but well-conducted studies of similar type and design tend to produce comparable results.     

Early intervention in the family system: A framework and review

A framework for understanding the effect of early intervention on family structure and functioning is presented. The framework uses five sets of variables to characterize families: Their ecology; and the values, roles, personalities, and interactions of family members. Twenty research studies that met criteria of having comparison/control groups, beginning intervention either prenatally or during the first 3 months of infancy, and directing intervention to family functioning are abstracted and examined in detail. Successful and unsuccessful studies are compared as to population and nature of intervention. Two criteria of success are used: (1) The commonly used criterion of any positive change; (2) a more rigorous criterion of change in at least three areas of family functioning, based on the assumption that more pervasive change will have more lasting influence on child development. Application of the first criterion found that 75% of early family focused intervention studies showed a successful outcome. Application of the latter criterion found that 50% showed a successful outcome. Further, there were no significant differences between successful and unsuccessful studies as to target group or type of intervention. The review suggests that early intervention targeted at family functioning is effective and that a more pervasive and sustained effect is likely if the intervention includes at least 11 or more contacts over at least a 3-month period.